Everyone from Activision to Paradox offered a job to ex-Relic/Vigil employees.

Sad news came down the pipe from THQ today. In the process of shifting Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online away from an MMO, 118 game designers are out of a job. 79 positions at Vigil Games in Austin, Texas, and 39 at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver are now redundant. While being laid off sucks, there has been an unprecedented amount of support from other videogame development companies on Twitter since the news went out earlier today. The hashtags "#relic #thq #gamedev" popped up in my feed - a lot.

It all seemed to begin with Kevin Dent, a videogame insider with experience raising funds for a lot of game startups. "If any of your friends from the THQ layoffs are looking for work, have them ping me, I know a few pubs and studios looking for talent," he said and was then showered with tons of job offers from various studios across the world.

"A message to devs who have been impacted by the #layoffs at #Relic and #Vigil. Feel free to contact me about employment with Activision," said headhunter for Activision and oneof their Call of Duty studios Treyarch, Michelle Gallego.

"Hey Vigil/Relic folks who are good at server programming. Popcap needs you! Seriously. I need you," said Allen Murray from PopCap, makers of everyone's favorite time-eating games like Bejeweled and Plants Vs. Zombies.

"Oh man. Sad to hear about Vigil/Relic. Don't know if we have any spots open right now, but you Vigil guys should send CVs anyway," said Mike Henry from Twisted Pixel games, the guys behind Kinect title Gunstringer.

"Good luck to all those let free at Relic and Vigil Games. If you're burnt out & looking for something fresh to be apart of, drop me a line," said Robert Bowling, also known as FourZeroTwo, the former Creative Strategist of Call of Duty at Infinity Ward. There's rumors he's working on a new project, and he would conceivably need talented designers on his team.

"3000AD is hiring anyone with a pulse (u have to qualify - and no zombies plz) and who is tired of working for DA MAN!" was the pitch from Derek Smart. 3000AD is Smart's company, currently developing its own MMO Line of Defense.

"Stardock is hiring game developers and artists," said Brad Wardell, CEO of the company that published Sins of a Solar Empire and developed Elemental.

"Twitter is amazing, all of those people got laid off and the response is pretty awesome," Kevin Dent said later. " I literally don't know of any [other industry where this would happen]. It makes me feel really good to be lucky to be part of it."

CHOOSE PARADOX! ALWAYS CHOOSE PARADOX!Now in all seriousness good to see them getting so much support. Though paradox is awesome save for launching a few games way too early they do fund a lot of very niche titles.EDIT: Also the offer from Popcap is very interesting. Do they plan on making a action plants vs zombies game? Or a Bejeweled RTS?

VonKlaw:Because now is a great time to go work for Bioware. *snickers*

Hey, at least they get free cupcakes.

As much as i love chocolate chip i wouldnt find it very comfortable working at a developer in the middle of a media shitstorm from its own fans. Unless one found the tears of fans funny, then it may be a different story.

Hope all ends well for those who got a layoff, but as a member of the next grad class from the Vancouver Film Schools game design program, news of layoffs in my city is frightening. Suppose an independant startup for night times after a day job may be the only option...

You mean publishers like Activision and Paradox? You know, the two companies explicitly mentioned in bold in the first line of the article. Personally I wouldn't work for Activision any more than I'd work for EA, but the fact is this isn't just an outpouring of support from the poor, downtrodden devs, big publishers are there as well. In fact, it looks as though Activision were actually there first.

"3000AD is hiring anyone with a pulse (u have to qualify - and no zombies plz) and who is tired of working for DA MAN!" was the pitch from Derek Smart. 3000AD is Smart's company, currently developing its own MMO Line of Defense.

Oh shit...

Developers, keep away from Derek Smart. You'll be stuck in a limbo where you'll be working on the same game for a decade, while your soul is slowly sucked away by his ego.

To the developers at Relic/Vigil, If you're interested in a full-time 2-3 month mobile game development gig in Vancouver and potentially long-term, or working at home with competitive compensation while you sort out your long-term plans, please contact me at DHmobilevancity@gmail.com for more information. We're looking for 7-8 talented software developers, networking developers and one database developer. If you know of anyone that may be interested, I appreciate it if you send em my way. It's primarily a full-time job gig, overtime is available as well and we are also considering part-time positions for certain specialized task. This project will net you decent earnings while you sort through your career plans. I prefer to work with developers from Vancouver, however it's not necessary, feel free to contact me if you're from Austin Texas or anywhere else in the world. Please keep in mind, although this is a short gig, if we like each other and development goes well you're also looking at a competitive career alternative with decent compensation as well. Thank you for your interest!

VonKlaw:Because now is a great time to go work for Bioware. *snickers*

Hey, at least they get free cupcakes.

As much as i love chocolate chip i wouldnt find it very comfortable working at a developer in the middle of a media shitstorm from its own fans. Unless one found the tears of fans funny, then it may be a different story.

I'm looking at it this way: They're receiving an injection of new blood, so we may see some interesting changes in new Bioware games.

Hurray! The game industry proves that, amidst all of the legal and financial crap that it pulls with developers and gamers in order to make a profit, they still empathize and sympathize with their common man.

As much as i love chocolate chip i wouldnt find it very comfortable working at a developer in the middle of a media shitstorm from its own fans. Unless one found the tears of fans funny, then it may be a different story.

I'm looking at it this way: They're receiving an injection of new blood, so we may see some interesting changes in new Bioware games.